French Bass full restoration

[Matthew Tucker]

This brace is very neatly made. But it's no good for this bass any more, and has to go.





I started out with the scrub plane but it was hard going so I went hi-tech.



Hogged out with the horrible Arbortec. I hate this tool but it has its uses.





Thinned with a thumbplane down to a veneer



Then steamed off.

Here's a peeling of the final layer. Notice the corrugations on the glue side. They look too even to be made with a toothed plane. I wonder how this was finished before gluing?



After a clean up and scrub.



Beautiful flame here.





Looks kind of 3D, doesn't it? But it's smooth.